# C_2008057EN.01002801.xml

| 1.3.2008 | EN | Official Journal of the European Union | C 57/28 |
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1.3.2008

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 57/28

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OPEN CALL FOR PROPOSALS — GP/RPA/ReferNet-FPA/002/08

OPEN CALL FOR PROPOSALS

ReferNet — European Network of Reference and Expertise in Vocational Education and Training (VET)

(2008/C 57/12)

1.   Objectives and description

The European Network of Reference and Expertise in VET (ReferNet) comprises a national consortium in each Member State, Iceland and Norway, made up of organisations representative of VET. Each consortium is led by a national consortium leader.

To facilitate these activities this call invites proposals from national consortia or key organisations involved in VET. For each eligible country one beneficiary shall be selected. The national consortium will cooperate with the national ReferNet representative and Cedefop in implementing and validating the activities.

The overall objective of this call is to select and conclude a three years framework partnership agreement with one successful applicant (one organisation or one consortium) in each of the eligible countries to set-up and lead a representative national consortium of key organisations in the field of VET in order to support Cedefop and carry out, with the consortium partners, activities agreed each year in an annual action plan.

Activities in each consortium's action plan will be selected from those listed in the ‘scope of activities’. Although the consortium leader must demonstrate that the consortium has the capacity to carry out all of the activities listed, it should be noted that not all of the activities listed need to be carried out by the consortium every year.

The consortium's annual action will be financed by a specific grant agreement concluded each year. The grant will vary according to the country size and the action (set of activities) carried out.

2.   Budget and project duration

The estimated budget available for the duration of the framework partnership agreements amounts to EUR 4 000 000 for all participating countries (EU-27, NO and IS), depending on the decisions of the Budget Authority.

EUR 4 000 000

The yearly total available budget (approx. EUR 1 million) will be distributed amongst all participating countries on the basis of three country groups based on population:

Country group 1: Cyprus, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Slovenia and Iceland.

Country group 2: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, the Netherlands, Portugal, Romania, Slovak Republic, Sweden and Norway.

Country group 3: France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain, United Kingdom.

The Community grant is a financial contribution to the beneficiary's (and/or co-beneficiaries) costs which must be supplemented by own financial contribution and/or local, regional, national and/or private contributions. The total Community contribution shall not exceed 70 % of the eligible costs.

Cedefop reserves the right not to award the total budget available.

3.   Eligibility criteria

Applications which comply with the eligibility criteria will be the subject of an evaluation.

3.1.   Eligible organisations

To be eligible, the applicant (national Consortium Leader) must satisfy the following requirements:

| — | be a public or a private organisation, with a legal status and legal personality (consequently, natural persons — i.e. individuals — may not submit applications), |
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be a public or a private organisation, with a legal status and legal personality (consequently, natural persons — i.e. individuals — may not submit applications),

| — | lead a national consortium whose composition represents the stakeholders' diversity within the country, |
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lead a national consortium whose composition represents the stakeholders' diversity within the country,

| — | be able to carry out all activities within the scope of those detailed in section 3 of the call for proposal full text (collection and analysis of information, research, documentation and databases, dissemination and promotion). |
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be able to carry out all activities within the scope of those detailed in section 3 of the call for proposal full text (collection and analysis of information, research, documentation and databases, dissemination and promotion).

3.2.   Eligible countries

Applications from the following countries are eligible:

| — | Luxembourg, Malta, Romania and Norway. |
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Luxembourg, Malta, Romania and Norway.

Organisations established in countries other than the countries listed above are not eligible.

3.3.   Eligible proposals

Submission deadline and all other formal eligibility criteria specified in the call for proposal full text must be complied with.

Cedefop reserves the right to disregard proposals that are still incomplete by the deadline. It also reserves the right to request additional information necessary to take a final decision on the award of financial support.

4.   Deadline

Applications for the framework partnership agreement must be sent at the latest on 21 April 2008.

at the latest on 21 April 2008

5.   Further information

The detailed specifications of the call for proposals, the application form and its annexes are available on Cedefop's website at the following address:

http://www.cedefop.europa.eu/index.asp?section=3

Applications must comply with the requirements set out in the full text of the call and be submitted using the official forms provided.

The evaluation of proposals will be based on the principles of transparency and equal treatment.

All eligible applications will be evaluated by a Committee against the quantitative and qualitative award criteria defined in the full text version of the call. External experts will be invited to participate in the evaluation procedure.

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